Rogers was born as Milton Rajonsky in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, United States.

[1] On June 7, 1953, Rogers and his orchestra, including Johnny "Guitar" Watson, performed for the famed ninth Cavalcade of Jazz concert at Wrigley Field in Los Angeles, produced by Leon Hefflin, Sr. Also featured that day were Roy Brown and his Orchestra, Don Tosti and His Mexican Jazzmen, Earl Bostic, Nat "King" Cole, and Louis Armstrong and his All Stars with Velma Middleton.

To some extent they could be classified as "cool" jazz; but they also looked back to the "hot" style of Count Basie, whom Rogers always credited as a major inspiration.

His other film work included the scores to Fools (1970), The Teacher (1974), The Specialist (1975), Dr. Minx (1975) and The Return of the Mod Squad (1979).

[1] With Elmer Bernstein With Teddy Charles With Jimmy Giuffre With Stan Kenton With Eartha Kitt With Perez Prado With Pete Rugolo With Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass With Ernie Andrews With Chet Baker With Elmer Bernstein With Les Brown and His Band of Renown With Bobby Bryant With Bobby Darin With Frances Faye With Bobbie Gentry With Terry Gibbs With Jerry Goldsmith With Vince Guaraldi With Lena Horne With Helen Humes With Dean Jones with Frankie Laine With Peggy Lee With Harvey Mandel With Shelly Manne With Carmen McRae With The Monkees With Michael Nesmith With Jack Nitzsche With Buddy Rich With Bud Shank With Mel Tormé